Nigeria's inflation rate eases slightly but still a worry for many citizens

Nigeria's headline inflation ‌rate slowed ​slightly last month, data showed on Thursday, but it remains stuck around 15% in annual terms and a concern ‌for many citizens months before a national election.

Consumer inflation was at 14.63% year-on-year in September, down from 15.39% in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Food inflation was little ‌changed at 19.59% in September from 19.57% in August.

Stubborn price pressures are a ‌test for President Bola Tinubu ahead of January's election, when he will seek a final four-year term. "The common man is suffering. Everything has sky-rocketed," Michael Udoariri, a 44-year-old who works in an insurance company ⁠and is ​a father of ⁠three, told Reuters at a bus stop in Lagos while waiting to go to work.

He said soaring ⁠fuel costs had forced him to stop driving and switch to public transport. The central bank ​surprised investors last month with a 350-basis-point interest rate cut to 23%, saying ⁠market rates had diverged from its benchmark rate and previous tightening measures had proven effective.

Tinubu took office ⁠in ​2023 and made a series of economic reforms like cutting petrol subsidies and devaluing the currency to try to lift economic growth and bolster public finances. But ⁠those reforms also spurred a cost-of-living crisis.

Economic growth has picked up, coming in at ⁠about 4.4% year-on-year ⁠in the second quarter, but it remains well below the 7% annual rate Tinubu has targeted by 2027.